Can't Get Over You (Fortune's Island, Book 2) (26 page)

The door to The Love Shack opened, sending a long beam of sunshine down the wooden floor. Ethan strode in, wearing sunglasses. He paused in the entry, took off the glasses and stowed them in the pocket of his suit jacket. He took one look at Jillian sitting beside Zach, and his face went cold. “You guys ready?”

Zach got to his feet and looked over at Duff, AJ and Ian. The other three nodded. “Yup,” Zach said.

Jillian moved over to one of the tables in the back of the room, sitting next to Carter. Ethan never even looked her way. Zach and the band got into place, but before they could start, the door to The Love Shack opened again.

Zach’s parents and his brother Keith stood in the opening, as though they were unsure they should enter. Zach’s face broke into a smile, and he waved at them. His father nodded, and the three of them sat at the table beside Jillian’s. Grace and Whit came out of the kitchen, and leaned against the wall to watch.

Zach drew in a deep breath, then raised his guitar and began a countdown. A second later, he began to sing “You Are The Everything.”

She had seen Zach perform hundreds of times. She knew all the words to all his songs, could predict every note. But she’d never seen him like this, with a renewed confidence, strength, leadership. He was in charge of the band, and it showed in the way he performed, and the others followed his example.

“He’s really good,” Carter whispered to her. Jillian just nodded, entranced by the sound.

Zach’s voice sounded clearer, stronger, as he sang the song he had written for her so many years ago. His gaze locked on hers and never let go, and the lyrics seemed to fill the space between them, rushing in like the tide. “You are the everything,” he sang. “Everything I ever wanted. Everything I ever need.”

She thought about him selling the car. Interviewing for a job. Starting that savings account. Was it all a temporary change, or was Zach truly in it for the long haul?

The song came to an end, and Zach strummed the first few chords to a Train cover song they often performed. Ethan got to his feet and put up a hand to stop them from singing more. “I’ve heard enough. Thanks, guys.”

Zach’s father started clapping. “Awesome job. Awesome.” His mother and brother joined in, along with Jillian’s parents. Jillian smiled at Zach, and gave him a thumbs-up. He smiled back, that special
ah-shucks
smile she loved so much.

Ethan turned to the back of the room. “So…are you going to sing?”

Everything about his demeanor was cold, business-like. As if they’d never dated. She wondered if maybe she was wasting her time here, and should just forget the whole thing. Carter nudged her but she shook her head.
No, not going to do it. Just going to sneak out of here and—

But then Zach came down off the stage, crossed to grab her guitar and then hand it to her. “Of course she’s going to sing,” he said to Jillian, his eyes never leaving hers. “Because she has a voice that the world needs to hear.”

She put up a hand. “Zach, I can’t. I…”

“You’ve got this.” He captured her hand with his, then met her gaze with his own and held it for a long moment. “You’ve got this, JillyBean.”

There was something in his eyes or in his voice that whispered the confidence she needed. She nodded, then drew in a breath and crossed to the stage. The rest of the band had left, and were settled at one of the round tables. Ethan stayed where he was, standing in the center of the room. He scrolled through his phone while he waited for her to set up.

Yeah, maybe this was a bad idea. Clearly, Ethan wasn’t happy that she had broken up with him. She started to say
forget it
when she caught Zach watching her. He gave her that smile she loved.
You’ve got this.

She strummed a chord. The wrong chord. She cleared her throat and apologized into the mic. So loud, the people in the room jumped. Zach moved into her line of vision again and waved a calming hand that said,
Slow down, you can do this
.

Just sing to one person. Pour your heart out to one person.

Her gaze skipped over the room, then caught on seven letters, written big and bold and stapled to the wall. Her name, in Zach’s handwriting, circled by a heart, on a dollar bill that was freshly hung on the lover’s wall. All these years, Zach had never put her name up there, scoffing at the legend. But there it was, public and loud, and for some reason, that made her believe. In herself. In him. In the impossible.

She tried again. This time, she hit the right chord. She closed her eyes, leaned in toward the mic, then began to sing, pretending she was on her rock and the only audience she had was the gulls and the ocean. But as the words flowed, her mental image shifted. The gulls flew away, the ocean receded, and she saw only Zach, with that lopsided smile and the deep brown eyes that warmed her like no other.

Jillian sang about risking her heart on love, then losing it, then finding it again. She sang the song that had been building inside her for months, the song she had been working on all those hot afternoons on the rock, the song she had never sung before, for anyone.

When she was done, Jillian stood there a moment longer, eyes closed. It wasn’t until the sound of wild applause filtered into her mind that she finally opened her eyes and realized she had done it. And given the response, done it well.

Her mother and father rushed over and enveloped her in a hug. “That was amazing,” Grace said. “Absolutely amazing!”

“You have the voice of an angel,” her father said. “I’m so proud, I could burst.”

Carter joined the hug. “Didn’t sound one bit like a cow dying. Way to go, sis.”

She laughed. “Thanks. Thanks a lot.”

There was only one opinion she wanted to hear right now, though. The one opinion she’d always wanted—and the one she’d been afraid to hear. That was why she hadn’t shared her music with Zach. Because if he hated it, she didn’t know if she could take the disappointment.

Then he was there, and her parents moved to the side and let him through. “You were amazing,” Zach said. “Just as I knew you would be.”

“You really think so?”

He nodded, and she could see the pride in his face. Why had she waited so long to share this with him? It was a moment that seemed to bond them in all the ways they’d been missing over the years. “You’re incredible, Jillian.”

“She is,” Ethan said. He strode over to the group. “So incredible, that I want to make you an offer, Jillian.”

An offer. A real record contract. For her songs. “But…what about The Outsiders?”

Ethan gave Zach a dismissive glance. “They’re great, too. But I only have enough left in my budget to offer one contract. We have a lot of bands on our roster. Not a lot of one-woman acts. So, the contract is yours, Jillian, if you want it.”

Meaning, she would be taking the chance that Zach, Duff, AJ and Ian had been dreaming about for years. The opportunity that the four of them had worked to achieve. She could have what she wanted—at the cost of Zach’s dream. She caught Zach’s eye. He gave her a slow nod and whispered,
go ahead
, and in that moment, she knew what she had to do.

TWENTY-TWO

Zach stepped back and left Jillian to talk to Ethan. He wasn’t going to lie—there was a hell of a lot of disappointment in his gut right now. He’d really thought he had this record contract in the bag, but then Ethan had gone and offered it to Jillian. Zach was thrilled for Jillian, of course, and thought the best course was to just walk away and let her have what she wanted.

“Dude, what happened?” Duff said.

Zach shrugged. “Ethan only had one contract and he offered it to Jillian.”

AJ and Ian started to complain, but Duff put up a hand to stop them. “She can sing, so I’m not surprised. Don’t worry about it, man. We’ll find something else.”

But as the four of them stood in that circle, they knew the truth. Duff had a baby on the way. This was his big chance to make a real living with his music. Without the contract, the four of them might try to hold things together, but they were eventually going to disband and go their separate ways. End up working in factories or on roofs or something that would pay the bills. There was nothing left to say, really.

“Well, we’re booked to play here tonight,” Zach said. “So why don’t we all take a nice long break, eat something and then regroup a little before eight for our first set?”

“Sounds like a plan,” AJ said. Ian nodded. “At least we still have this gig.”

“Yeah.” Zach felt like a heel. This was all his fault. He never should have slugged Ethan. He’d ruined it for all of them, and he could see the looks on their faces that said the band agreed. The three guys who had always been there for him were the three he had let down the most.

Jillian crossed the room. “Zach, wait. Don’t go yet.”

He stopped and waved to the other guys to go ahead, then waited until he and Jillian were alone before he spoke. “It’s fine, Jillian. Really. I’m excited for you.” He gave her a smile that he only half felt. It wasn’t Jillian’s fault. It was his own. He should have done what Jillian said a long time ago—and grown up.

“I didn’t take the deal, Zach.” She reached out and put a hand on his arm. For a second, it was just like old times, as if they’d never broken up. “Like I said before, this is really your dream, not mine. I don’t know what I want yet. I just know I want to be involved in music. It’s why I’m going to school, so I can try it out and see what I want to do. Maybe I’ll want to perform, maybe I’ll want to manage, or maybe I’ll just want to write songs. But I’m not ready to make that choice yet.”

“But, Jillian, this could be a huge break. You could end up famous.”

“Maybe, or maybe I’ll be a one-hit wonder.” She shrugged. “I don’t know if I even want that yet. What I want is time. And support while I’m making up my mind.”

“You’ve always had my support. You know that.”

Her smile softened. She tilted her head in his direction. “And you’ve always had mine. So go over there and sign that contract.”

“What?”

“Ethan only had one contract to offer, and since I turned it down, it’s yours. It should have been yours from the beginning, and he told me that.” She shot a glance at Ethan, then turned back to Zach. Her gaze softened. “When I confronted him just now, Ethan admitted that part of why he offered me the deal first was to hurt you. He said you guys are amazing. I knew that. I always knew that. But he was a little pissed that you punched him.”

Understandable. Most men weren’t real happy to be punched. Zach was lucky Ethan hadn’t done worse than offer a contract to Jillian. “I’m sorry about that, Jillian. I really am.”

“I probably would have done the same thing if I saw you out with some girl.” She shrugged and let out a little laugh. “Listen, Zach, I’m not ready for a record deal. I’m not ready to make a decision today about my future career. But you
are
. You’ve been ready for years. So go take that contract and light up the world with your songs. Just like you always lit up mine.”

He held her gaze for a long time, and thought there was no one in the world he would ever love as much as he loved this girl. Then he turned on his heel, grabbed the rest of the band and headed back to Ethan.

“Jillian told me you still had an offer for us,” Zach said.

“You guys have a good sound,” Ethan said. “Kind of earthy, soul-touching. We need that kind of thing. If you’re still interested.”

Zach looked at Duff, AJ and Ian in turn. The three of them each gave him a somber nod. He’d known these guys for years. Knew what they were thinking. That was part of what made them not just a band, but also a small family. “Thanks, Ethan, but uh…no thanks.”

Ethan’s brows furrowed. “You’re turning down my offer? Do you know what this means?”

“We do.” Zach looked at the band again, because this was a big decision, and he wanted to be sure they were on the same page. “We don’t want to be anyone’s second choice. We’re better than that. And if you loved us, someone else will, too. So, thanks for your time, but we’re going to say goodbye now.”

Then the four of them walked away, leaving a sputtering Ethan holding a contract and a pen. A second later, Ethan stormed out of The Love Shack.

“You guys okay?” Zach asked the band after Ethan had slammed the door.

“Yeah, we are,” Duff said. “And you’re right. If he loved us, someone else will, too. We just gotta keep on playing.”

“But what about the baby and paying the bills?” Zach asked.

“I’m probably going to have to work some days,” Duff said. “We all probably will. And that’ll make it harder to find practice time. But that’s part of being a grown-up, and if you guys are in for making this work one way or the other, so am I.”

“Yeah,” AJ said. “If we want it bad enough, we’ll keep on working for it.”

“We didn’t get this far,” Ian added, “to quit because some prissy studio exec stomped out of here like a two-year-old having a temper tantrum.”

Zach loved these guys like brothers. Damn, he was lucky to have such good friends and band mates. “All right. It’s a plan. See you all back here later tonight?”

“Where else would we go?” Duff clapped him on the back. “Now go show Jillian where she ranks in your priorities.”

Duff and the guys headed toward the kitchen. “Hey, Grace,” Duff called out, “you got anything to feed a hungry unemployed band?”

“I sure do.” Grace gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead, then she and Whit headed into the kitchen with the three guys. There was the sound of laughter and the rolling wave of conversation on the other side of the swinging door.

Zach headed for Jillian, but his father stepped in front of him and stopped him.

“Hey, Dad,” Zach said. “Thanks for coming tonight. I’m sorry it didn’t work out and it was kind of a waste of time.”

“You tried, though, and that’s what matters.” Carl looked at his feet for a second. “I never got that far. Never had the guts to audition. Maybe if I did, I would have had the courage to keep performing. You’ve got that, Zach. You’ve got what it takes. And that will get you there, one of these days. I’m…I’m proud of you, son. I don’t say that often enough. But I’m going to try to say it a lot, going forward.”